


Benzodiazepine

by ultimatebara



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: M/M, Mentions of alcoholism, Trans Male Character, tattoo artist!rhys, trans!Jack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:00:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22782931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ultimatebara/pseuds/ultimatebara
Summary: Jack loses Angel's custody to his ex-husband and he almost let himself spiral down in depression and alcohol if it wasn't for Rhys by his side.//An AU that I won't continue, but decided to post the first act which was complete and my other notes!
Relationships: Handsome Jack/Rhys (Borderlands)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	Benzodiazepine

**Author's Note:**

> I had this wip in my computer for a _long_ time, always wanting to finish it, but I noticed it wouldn't ever get the ending it deserves (which I wanted to be a happy one), so I decided on give up on it.  
> It was nice to write what I wrote and to imagine Rhys as a tattoo artist!  
> It seems that benzodiazepine is a medicine used in some cases of alcohol dependency  
> Hope you all can enjoy this small thing

**Act I. Burning Cities and Napalm Skies**

Rhys woke up first, disturbed by the sound of the rain against the window glass. The room was grayish with so low luminosity, but he could still see the features of his lover. With his eyes, he traced the line of Jack’s naturally arched eyebrows, the straight line of his pointy nose and the arches of his lips.

With a careful hand, he touched the other’s cheek, caressing the tanned skin; soft, but rough enough to prickle his palm. Rhys moved a bit closer to the other and Jack reached for his own face, touching his hand and opening his eyes with laziness. Rhys smiled and passed his thumb under Jack’s right eye, seeing the faint blue and green irises focusing on him.

“Good morning, handsome.” He whispered.

Jack closed his eyes and turned his head, leaving a kiss on Rhys’ palm.

“Mornin’.” He mumbled and raised his arm “Come closer.”

Rhys smiled and laid his head on the other’s chest, hugging his waist.

“It’s raining. I don’t want to go to work.” Jack whispered and Rhys nodded, yawning after a while “Where are my boots, do you know?” the brunette sighed and opened his eyes again. Jack couldn’t stop talking even when he was sleepy.

“By the washing machine.”

Rhys sighed again and leaned away from the other, sitting. He blinked a few times and stretched, putting his hands on his lower back and yawned again, dropping his head on his palms. He groaned and turned his head, taking the mobile off the charger on the nightstand.

“What hour is it?”

“Eight and… Thirteen. I have to get up.” he groaned and unlocked his phone, checking on the new messages and emails.

Jack turned over his stomach, stretching as best as he could and moaned. His voice muffled by the pillow.

“I’ll make coffee. Go change.” he gave Rhys a little push and the other chuckled, getting off the bed and walking to the bathroom.

Jack yawned and put one foot on the floor, groaning as he popped his back. He got up and walked to the kitchen, scratching his stomach. He turned on the coffee machine and went to the bathroom, meeting Rhys there brushing his teeth.

“Which time do you have to be at work?” Jack sat down and put his hand on his face, closing his eyes as he peed and Rhys looked at him.

“I have a client at eleven, but I want to prepare everything before he arrives.” He washed his mouth and Jack asked if he wanted a ride there, “It’d be great. It’s raining and I don’t know where I’ve put my umbrella.”

Jack cleaned himself and got up, flushing. He walked to Rhys and bumped him with his hips, washing his hands and then his face and mouth.

Rhys went back to the bedroom to change and Jack went back to the kitchen, arranging the table so they could eat.

The younger man came out minutes later, black jeans ripped on the knees, oversized black sweater and black boots. Jack looked at his boyfriend and chuckled, spreading butter on a toast.

“You look so gothic today.”

Rhys chuckled with him and crossed his legs under the table, taking a sip of his mug.

“It’s to match the day.” He joked and Jack smiled behind his own mug.

They ate breakfast with idle conversation, talking about the dreams they had that night and the day that waited for them. Rhys cleaned the dishes and table as Jack went to the bedroom to get himself ready.

Rhys entered the bathroom as Jack finished brushing his teeth and motioned for him to move aside. Jack washed his mouth as Rhys tried to tame his hair.

“You drank a lot yesterday.” He commented and the other shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest as he watched Rhys brush his hair.

“I wanted to relax.” He answered as if it justified the amount of empty cans on the trash “You didn’t drink with me because you didn’t want to. I invited you.”

“Jack, you know I don’t drink when I have to get up early.” He sighed, “We’ve talked about this.” Jack pecked him on the cheek and got out of the bathroom if Rhys on his tow.

“Just a couple beers won’t hurt anyone, Rhysie. Don’t worry.” He chuckled, sitting by the bed to put on his shoes. Rhys rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

“Jack, there’s five beer cans on the trash. Five.” He opened his hand and the other frowned, looking at him.

“I could swear I didn’t drink that much.” He finished putting on his shoes and got up “Well, don’t worry too much.” He smiled and stretched again, “You’re ready to go?”

“I’ll put a beanie and we can go.” He sighed and Jack chuckled, tidying the bed.

“Give short-stuff a hi for me.” Rhys nodded and leaned in, giving Jack a small kiss and unfastened the seat belt, but stopped before going out in the rain.

“We need to go to the supermarket later. We don’t have chocolate powder and you know how Angel is without chocolate milk.” He chuckled and Jack smiled with a nod.

“We can go after we pick her up.”

“She’ll want to sleep and is better to already have it at home. I’ll think more about what we need, but I think it’s just that.” He explained, “I’ll text you by lunch if I remember anything. What time do we have to pick her up?”

“Seven. She has ballet today.”

“We have plenty of time then. I think we’ll have finished by six, but if not, I’ll text you.”

Jack nodded and Rhys gave his boyfriend a last kiss before slipping out of the car to run into the studio.

Jack rolled his shoulders and changed stations on the radio as he stopped at the light, letting his head rest on his hand on the window. A young woman’s voice filled his car, humming a sad melody and he thought about Angel’s blue eyes as the lyrics came up.

His daughter from his former marriage, Angel, would stay with him and Rhys for the next four days, Friday to Monday. They waited the whole week for Friday to arrive so they could pick up that small bundle of joy at Pandora’s Elementary School.

He also thanked God for picking up Angel at school and not at his ex-husband’s house.

  
  


(…)

Jack worked as an interior designer in one of Hyperion’s facilities in one of the fanciest neighbourhoods in Pandora, Opportunity. He was involved in a big project, leading the architecture alongside many engineers in the development of a new building.

When lunchtime approached and they traded discussion over numbers for drinking a cup of coffee, Jack’s phone rang in his pocket. At first, he thought it was Rhys, reminding him to go to the supermarket, but when he saw the caller ID, he frowned. Why would his lawyer call him?

“Hello? Blake, what is it?”

“We seem to have a problem, Mr. Lawrence. Your ex-husband’s lawyer called and…” he sighed on the other side of the line “ Angelo ’s decided he wants full custody.”

He put his hand on his face and took a deep breath.

“He did what?”

“He wants full custody, Mr. Lawrence. His lawyer called me it’s been not ten minutes. He says it’s because of your behaviour.”

Jack’s eyebrows shot up and anger filled him. His face felt hot and his throat dry.

“My behaviour?! What behaviour that fucking prick thinks I have?!”

Blake stayed silent on the other side of the line and Jack felt his co-workers eyes on him. He put the mug on the table and walked away from them. He felt like an angry dog, ready to bite whatever came his way and tear it to pieces.

“He said that Angelo didn’t want Angel near you because of your…” he stopped as if he tried to find the right words not to make Jack angrier “Your gender issues, Mr. Lawrence.”

Jack’s face drained from all colour and his mouth felt dry. His chest tightened if the air couldn’t go in and he put a hand over his mouth. [...]

Soon, shock was replaced with raw anger. His ears were red and his teeth hurt from the strength he gritted them. His voice came throaty and low, threatening and red like the anger visible in his eyes.

“I’m going to hang up now so I don’t scream at you, Blake. Make the arrangements so I can fucking DESTROY. THAT FUCKING. PIECE OF FLAMING GARBAGE! DO YOU HEAR ME?!”

He hung up and put his phone in his pocket. Grabbed his mug again and drank the rest of the coffee.

One of his co-workers came to him, hesitant to ask what had happened when the mug made contact with the opposite wall, shattering to pieces.

“We’re lunching earlier.”

  
  


Rhys laughed as the girl under his hands held tight to the chair as he traced the last outlines on the thigh tattoo.

“You’re doing well. Didn’t cry once.” He joked and she gave him a shaky smile back. He cleaned the drawing and rolled his shoulder, going back to the task.

Rhys was a tattoo artist and as most of them, his body was littered with ink. He had tattoo sleeves on both arms; on the right, thin white circuit lines went up and down his arm against black ink, ending on his wrist. Beginning on the left peck and going down his arm, blue ink covered white skin, leaving an open circle on his shoulder, surrounded by small triangles, and one circle on his forearm.

His neck had a black circle inside a c with a black dot near his throat. His left temple had a white snowflake and the back of his hands had each their patterns of hexagons.

“She’ll cry, just wait.” The girl with a red streak on her hair, sitting a few meters away teased and her sister frowned at her direction.

“Your sister is a fan of guns too?” he glanced up for a moment “Relax. Try to relax and it won’t hurt much.” He asked and the girl – Sasha – tried her best to release a holding breath.

“Not so much. She prefers dollar bills.”

Rhys chuckled and nodded a few times.

“Who doesn’t, right?”

The buzzing sound filled the ambient alongside the smooth sounds of the background music.

“We’re… Done.” He leaned away, pulling down his mask and sprayed antiseptic soap on her thigh, wiping it with a paper towel “The outline is done. You can walk around a bit and stretch your legs before we continue.” He smiled and she got up slowly, walking to her sister to show her tattoo.

Rhys threw away his gloves and yawned, getting up to tide his things and his phone rang. He pulled it out of the hoodie’s pocket and saw Jack’s ID.

“Hi, Jack.” He smiled remembering how the other hated when he answered the phone like that. Rhys never understood due to that being his name and Jack always said it sounded like he was angry with him “Everything okay?” he balanced the phone against his shoulder and cheek.

“…” the line was dead for a while and Rhys frowned.

“Jack?” he walked away from his things and held the phone, looking at it to see if the call didn’t end on accident “Jack, can you hear me?”

“Yes.” A single word in a restrained voice.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just… I missed you. Wanted to hear your voice for a moment.”

Rhys knew that wasn’t the reason for the call, but let a small smile take over his lips. He took a deep breath and put a hand on his hip.

“You old sap.” He teased, “Did you eat already? Is everything okay in there?”

“Yeah, yeah. I was gonna eat now, but thought if you wanted to eat with me or something.”

“Oh. I’d love to, but I have to keep going if I want to see Angel before she goes to sleep.” He chuckled, putting a hand over his nape “The girl, Sasha, wanted a  pistol and the design is really detailed. And I want to finish the colouring today too, so…” he sighed and heard Jack grunt in acknowledgment “Look, today is Friday, Angel’s staying with us and, after she goes to bed, we can finish that wine I bought.” He suggested, “Whatever’s bothering you, handsome, will be okay. Don’t worry too much over things. You know how you tend to do that.”

Jack sighed and stayed silent again.

“Ok. Did you think about what we need to buy besides chocolate powder?”

Rhys chuckled and said the other things he thought about. When they hung up, Rhys looked at his wallpaper; Jack’s face covered with whipped cream from his last birthday, and bit his lip, thinking. Something was going on with Jack, but he would give the other his space.

He went to the front desk, grabbing a small piece of sandwich Vaughn, a short man with a loose bun and a full beard, offered him and ate as he let him choose the next playlist.

“Let’s go?” he walked to the sisters and smiled. Fiona, who was sitting waiting for her sister, looked up at Rhys.

“Do you mind if I bring something for her to eat?”

“Oh, no, no. Let’s do this then.” He asked Sasha to show her leg and pointed at the flowers surrounding the pistol “You can go buy her food as I colour the flowers, then we can make another pause so you can eat, okay?” he finished by looking at Sasha and the girl nodded.

“I’ll go then. A subway is okay?” she looked at her and she nodded walking back to Rhys’ stall.

“God bless sandwiches.” He joked and Sasha chuckled “Okay. Now is the colouring. I’ll hit sensitive skin a lot so hang in there, ok?” he put new gloves on and placed the mask back over his mouth and nose “But we’ll finish this today.”

She groaned and took a deep breath, looking at her phone as the buzzing mixed with Daft Punk catchy notes.

  
  


Jack entered the studio and wiped his shoes on the cloth on the floor. Before he reached the front desk, L.B., a lanky man with a white eyepatch on his right eye and a shaved head, saw him arrive and was already up, asking for Jack to wait that he would call Rhys.

He nodded and waited by the desk, arms crossed over his chest. He looked around, already familiar with the exposed art of the various artists that worked at the studio. The song that played ended and another one began. Jack looked up, paying attention to it. He recognized it as the same he had listened to that morning.

“He said he’s finishing up.” L.B. 's deep voice took him out of the melancholic lyrics “Would you like some coffee? Or biscuits?”

“I’ll have some water, please.”

Jack sat down and unblocked his phone, answering some texts he left on read. He was munching on the border of the plastic cup when Blake’s caller ID appeared on his phone. Jack put a hand on his forehead, gathering all his strength not to make a scene at his boyfriend’s workplace.

“What is it, Blake?” his voice almost a whisper.

“They scheduled an audition for next week, Mr. Lawrence.”

Jack squeezed the plastic cup and looked outside, watching as it began to rain again. He took a deep breath, resting his back on the sofa and cracked a knuckle.

“Ok. Send me the details later. I’ll call you by Monday.” He hung up and put a hand over his face. If Angel were taken from him, he didn’t know what he would do. She was everything to him.

“Jack? Are you okay?”

He lifted his head and encountered Rhys kneeled by his side, worry in his eyes. He touched the hand on his knee and squeezed it softly.

“Yeah… Ready to go?”

Rhys nodded and got up, adjusting his shoulder bag and turned around, getting a hug from Sasha and Fiona.

“Remember the cautions I told you. If I see a pool pic on your facebook, we’re gonna have a talk, young lady.” He joked and the sisters laughed, waving at them all and went outside under a red umbrella. Rhys looked at Jack and offered his hand “C’mon.”

Jack took it and intertwined their fingers, saying his goodbye to L.B., who seemed that, would close the shop that day.

Inside the car, Rhys put his bag on the backseat and Jack turned on the radio, changing stations and swore under his breath as he heard the same song the third time that day.

“Will you tell me what’s wrong?” Rhys learned to be blunt with Jack.

The older man looked straight ahead, gripping the steering wheel and Rhys tilted his head, waiting.

“ Angelo wants Angel’s full custody.”

Rhys’ eyes widened and he felt something akin to fury bubble in his chest.

“What?” disbelief in his voice.

“Blake called me this morning.” He confessed and Rhys felt a weight on his chest.

“That’s the reason you called me… Jack…” he sighed and touched the other’s cheek, giving him a small caress “You could’ve told me.”

“And ruin your day? You could have messed up the girl’s skin and it wouldn’t be good for your job.”

Rhys sighed and traced the other’s jawline, thinking.

“We can talk more about this later. Let’s think about the present, okay? Angel will spend the weekend with us and, at the moment, that’s what matters.” He tried and Jack took a deep sigh.

They went to the supermarket and bought what they needed, including chocolate powder, more cereal, ice cream and fruits. Whoever looked would find funny the way Rhys clung to Jack’s side, arm on his waist as they walked through the aisles, arms entwined as they walked back to the car.

They stopped by the backside of the school, getting out of the car, but Rhys stopped Jack before they went in. He touched the other’s face with the back of his fingers and looked into his mismatched eyes.

Those ocean eyes.

He saw many raw emotions in there, but also the lack of many others. Saw someone tired of proving himself and someone ready to show what they were made of.

“I’m with you till the end of the line, Jack.” He reassured the other and Jack dropped his eyes, letting his forehead rest on the other’s shoulder as they hugged in that bad lightened parking lot.

“Thank you, Rhys.” He whispered and they shared a peck “And don’t think you can quote Winter Soldier on me and get away unharmed.” He chuckled and the other joined him, satisfied he could give Jack a laugh in those difficult times.

They entered the school hand in hand and Rhys’ head on Jack’s shoulder, passing support. They walked to the small studio and Jack opened the door slowly, seeing the girls around the room talking and already with clothes changed. Face buried in a book, with her legs on the walls and back on the floor, was Angel.

Black hair combed to a perfect bun and purple princess sneakers on her feet. Rhys smiled as the teacher saw them and turned around.

“Angel. Your father is here.”

Those big blue eyes looked around and the biggest smile appeared on her face as both men entered her vision camp. She put the book in her backpack and stood up, walking to them.

“Daddy! Reese!” they laughed as she jumped on Jack’s arms, giving him a kiss on the cheek and Rhys smiled, taking her bag from her so he could carry it “Daddy, put me down!” she demanded and Jack chuckled, obeying.

Angel grabbed Rhys’ hand and pulled him near other girls that whispered among them.

“I told’ya he had a snake!”

Rhys frowned and kneeled on the floor. Angel pointed to his snowflake tattoo and one of the girls crossed her arms in mockery.

“That’s a sn _ owflake _ ! Not a snake!”

Angel frowned and looked at his tattoo, putting her small fingers against the drawing.

“I know what a snowflake is, Delia! I mean the snake!” She looked at Rhys with big eyes and he rolled his eyes in a fun manner, fishing his phone from his pocket “Show them, Reese!”

He nodded slightly and found a photo he took when he got the snake tattoo. He showed the photo to the little girls and they gasped loudly.

“I think you can still see it when I part my hair, but…” he tilted his head and felt thousands of small hands in his hair, trying to get a glimpse of the snake under there. One of them gasped.

“Here! The head!” he laughed and leaned away, brushing his hair back.

“Did it hurt?”

“Can we have drawings too?”

“I want a snake too!”

“I want a unicorn!”

“I want a dragon!”

The wishes filled the room and Rhys got up, laughing and looked around, seeing that Jack and the teacher had come closer to ruckus.

“You all can have them when you’re older.” He smiled “And it hurts just a bit.” He winked at them “But, as I said, it’s a kind of pain only grownups can endure. Baby girls can only have the bubblegum ones.”

“And boys?” one asked and Rhys looked at the small boy, noticing he was the only one around.

“Only the gum ones too.” He smiled as he nodded.

“Or just draw on your arm.” Jack suggested, “Everything can be a tattoo in whatever place.” He smiled and many of the children nodded “Let’s go then.” He picked Angel up again and smiled at the teacher “Thank you. Good night.” They waved to the other girls and walked out of the studio to the hallway.

“Daddy, I’m hungry.” She complained when they approached the car and Jack hummed in acknowledgment.

“We’ll get home, you’ll take a bath while Rhys and daddy make dinner.” He put her on the small chair on the back seat.

“How was your day, Angie?” Rhys smiled, looking over his shoulder at the girl and she smiled, puffing her chest at the memory of something.

“I did a split!”

“Oh, my God! Really?” his eyes widened and Jack entered the car “Jack! Angel did a split today!” he saw the other stop mid-move of fastening the seat belt and looked back at the girl, wide smile on his lips.

“A split? A full one?” she nodded and Jack laughed, “That’s my girl! If you want to show us when we get home…!” he proposed and Angel nodded many times, beginning to tell the rest of her day.

When they arrived home, they placed the groceries in their places and went to the living room so Angel could show them her split. Jack had the brightest smile on his face as he kneeled on the carpet and began to film his daughter as she slid to the floor in a fluid motion and laughed as Rhys clapped outside the screen.

“Oh, my God! Angel, you’re so talented! Do one more time! Just one more!” he asked and the girl blushed, getting up and slid again, raising her arms and chin.

Jack stopped the recording, put his phone aside, going to Angel, and hugged her tight, rolling on the floor with her and laughed as she yelled and tried to escape from the tickling.

Rhys looked at them and felt joy filling his chest as he left them to play and went to the kitchen to begin the dinner.

[…]

Jack leaned his head on Rhys’ chest and sighed as they watched TV.

The long fingers on his hair, scratching his scalp in a delicious manner made his eyelids drop and the thoughts appeared on his mind. What if he could never see Angel again?

He only noticed he was crying when Rhys moved to put his wineglass on the centre table.

“Oh, Jack.” He whispered and hugged the other, letting him hide his face on his sweater. Rhys tried to rock him, hugging him tight against his chest and kept the caresses on his scalp.

“I can’t lose her, Rhys…”

“You won’t lose her.” He tried to sooth the other “Everything will be alright.”

Rhys kept his fingers on the other’s hair for the whole time he cried, comforting and let him cry his worries away against his chest.

In empathy, he understood what Jack felt, so he let him put every worry out, all the fear and anger he felt since that morning.

His own eyes tingled with the possibility of never having those happy moments with Angel again, cooking and playing with her. Those small family moments he cherished.

Deep down, those comforting words were for him too.

[…]

Angel’s laugh filled the room, only interrupted when she’d take a gulp of her chocolate milk. Jack was on the couch, looking at some files on his tablet and Rhys was at the kitchen making more coffee for both of them.

“It’s already nine.” Rhys came from the kitchen and sat by Jack’s side, handing him his steaming mug and leaned in, giving Angel’s hair a caress before resting against the couch “Have you already done your homework, Angel? We can’t go out until you’ve done it.”

They would go to the park to play.

“I need help in math!” she looked at them, the milk glass too big for her tiny hands “Daddy, can you help me?”

“Sure, honey. Go grab it.” He looked at her and smiled, putting the tablet aside. He took a sip of his coffee and sighed, turning the volume down as Angel went to fetch her school bag.

She came back and climbed on the couch, sitting between both men. She opened the notebook and showed Jack the earlier questions she answered and where the homework began.

“Division and multiplication is hard.” She assumed and Jack chuckled.

“It is at first, but soon you’ll see that it makes sense. Ok. Let’s see…” he adjusted his glasses “2 x 2 is…?”

“4! That I know!” she raised her hands and, on each of them, two fingers “It’s like 2 plus 2!” She put the fingers side by side.

“Yes. And 2 x 3?”

Angel looked at Jack and then raised one more finger in each hand.

“6!” she smiled and Jack nodded.

“You know so much, I don’t know how I can help you!” he looked at her in a fun manner and Rhys chuckled by their side. Angel turned the page and showed Jack the divisions.

“I don’t know when there’s big numbers!” she pointed with the pencil “16 divided by 4! 36 divided by 9!”

Jack smiled and offered his hand.

“Can you lend me your pencil, Angel?” she gave it to him and he sat better, pulling her to his lap “Ok.” He turned a page and started writing on the blank lines. He drew two circles and four hearts “Here. When you want to put the same amount of things in different places, you divide them, right?” she nodded and he drew a line linking two hearts to each circle “So now, we have two hearts in each circle. This is 4 divided by 2. Now.” He drew four circles and sixteen hearts, “How would you do this?” he gave her the pencil, and she frowned, looking at the page.

She began linking one heart to each circle, until there were four hearts in each one.

“So… 16 divided by 4 is…?” he tilted his head, looking at her.

“…4?” she frowned and Jack chuckled.

“Exactly!” he turned the pages again, going back to the homework “You just have to think, Angel. If you have a bigger number, how can we put it inside the smaller one?” 

Angel nodded even if there was still a frown in her small forehead.

Jack and Rhys watched her do her homework sticking her tongue out when she tried to understand how to divide 100 by 4. It was the last problem and, when she figured out the answer was 25, Jack beamed, raising her high and onto his shoulders.

Rhys laughed, saying he would make a special lunch for them to take to the park.

They spent the rest of the morning at the park. Rhys sat on a bench and read one more chapter of his book while Jack pushed Angel on the swing. After a while, he sat by Rhys and fanned himself, taking deep breaths.

“This girl has too much energy.” Rhys chuckled and put the book aside, offering Jack a water bottle “Maybe we should get her a dog. I’m not that young anymore.”

“I can play with her, old man.” He teased and looked at him, smiling “And you’re only thirty-two, Jack.”

“Thirty-two is too much for a six years old.” He complained and Rhys laughed, looking at Angel playing in the distance.

“Did Angelo contact you?” he looked at Jack and leaned back again as he shook his head.

“Not a call nor a message.” He sighed “But I’ll call him today. Know whatever the hell he wants to start this bullshit. We fought so much during the divorce and now he… I don’t even know.” He crossed his arms.

“But did Blake say anything to you? Because it doesn’t make sense for him to suddenly want full custody. Something must have happened, no?”

Jack sighed and adjusted the sunglasses on his nose, crossing his legs.

“Blake said the prick wanted full custody because of my  _ “gender issues” _ .” He scoffed, making quotation marks with his fingers “That piece of shit… I told him I was trans a month after Angel was born. Why would he come up with this now is out of my comprehension.”

“We can only hope it will end well and you’ll still be able to spend some time with her.” He hugged Jack’s shoulders and kissed his cheek “You have a stable income, a good house and Angel is so happy when she visits. I don’t think they’ll have anything to pin on you.”

Jack sighed and grabbed Rhys’ hand on his arm, squeezing it a bit.

“We can only hope.”

[…]

They went home to have lunch and the day passed by without events. They watched a few movies during the day and they went to the balcony to see the sunset. Jack and Rhys each on a stuffed chair and Angel was playing with one of her dolls on a blanket laid on the floor. They had a phone in a speaker and a playlist of soothing songs played. Rhys sighed as the warmness of the last sun rays kissed his skin and he looked at Jack.

“I’ll go grab more tea. Do you want some?”

Jack nodded and handed his mug and Angel’s plastic cup to the other.

They got used to drinking weak tea without caffeine because they had a little child with them.

Rhys went inside and could hear that Jack raised the volume a bit. He focused on filling the mugs in a slow piece, not putting much for Angel. He got some biscuits and put them in a plate to take them outside, but stopped near the kitchen’s door when he heard someone singing along to the song. He tilted his head and walked slower, letting a smile appear on his lips with what he saw.

Jack had Angel in his arms, caressing her hair under the orange sun rays. His voice traveled around them, singing along to the song and making Rhys smile. He sat again and put everything on the small table between the two chairs.

Jack looked at Rhys, gave him a smile, and stopped singing to take a sip on his tea. Angel looked at Jack and frowned, putting her small hands against his chest.

“Why you stopped? Daddy, sing!”

Both adults laughed and Angel put her hands on his face, demanding for him to continue to sing, making both men laugh harder.

“Let’s sing something you can sing with me then.” He reached for the phone, but Angel cried a no and reached for his hand.

“Keep singing, daddy!” she hugged him again and Rhys felt his cheeks hurt from the splitting smile that wouldn’t go away. When Jack began to sing, Rhys felt sadness fill his chest and took a big gulp of his own mug.

If  Angelo went to the end with his plan of full custody. Those moments wouldn’t exist anymore.

[…]

They had a routine of taking Angel to school together so both could give her a hug before the long four days until they met again.

After giving their goodbyes, Rhys looked at Jack and saw a glassy glow on the other eyes.

The probability of a painful future tore Jack’s heart and his eyes expressed that hurt. Rhys wanted to cry with his boyfriend.

**Act II. Mess With Name**

It wasn’t silent where they were.

The place, with its white stonewalls and wide hallways gave the impression it would be a silent place, but the constant walk of lawyers, judges and desperate people in need of judicial help filled the place with a kind of silence that gave Jack anxiety.

He looked up from his hands, seeing his lawyer, Blake, read and re-read the paperwork they had to present to the other party in a few minutes. He could feel the beginning of a headache at the back of his head and thought about Rhys waiting for him to go back home with good news.

Angel was at school, oblivious to what would be decided soon. Jack felt, in his chest, in his soul, he would not, could not bear to have Angel far away from him, that he could be made unable to see his own daughter.

  
  


Rhys looked at Jack, sitting on the couch, a few folders spread on the center table. The TV wasn’t on, but there was music playing.

He came back from the audition and didn’t say what happened. He, Instead of talking about it, of answering Rhys’ questioning of what had happened; he sat on the couch, opened a beer and began to work.

The brunette knew it had gone badly. He asked because he wanted to see Jack say it, face the hard reality that… They’ve lost Angel.

They’ve lost the weekends and the visits to the park, to the zoo. They’ve lost Angel because of prejudice and Rhys saw the beginning of a depression fall.

[…]

“I did not spend hours in labor for her to be taken from me! He knew I was trans when Angel was eight months old! I told him! I started hormone therapy when Angel was four! What are you even saying? She breastfed until her first year and then I had to go under many psychological tests! He knew everything! I never hid who I was and what I wanted!”

**Remaining notes**

"You're drunk...? You went to work... Drunk?" Jack stayed silent "I can't- No. This is not happening with us. With _you_. No." Rhys shook his finger at the other.

"I'm fin-"

"No! You're not! Jack, please, look at yourself! This..." Rhys took a deep breath, the lines on Jack's face becoming harsh. He sat by his side and reached for his hands, relieved he didn't pull back "I know you're sad. I know. I understand." he was nervous, the faint smell of alcohol caressing his nose "But don't... Angel doesn't deserve this. Don't let them have this against you too."

(...)

"What happened to your face, man?" Vaughn watched as Rhys walked into the parlor with a nasty bruise by his left eye.

"Got into a fight." he clicked his tongue "Protected girlfriend from boyfriend. I'm fine." he chuckled and took off his jacket "Don't worry."


End file.
